Dark Horse
by Dagron
Summary: Hello, and welcome everybody to this once-in-a-lifetime occasion, the Detective Race!


Length: 1805 words. One-shot.  
Rating: PG-13 for brief Nudity.  
Genre: Silly fic!

**Dark Horse**.

The day was as good as any to go to the races. The sun was hiding behind the clouds, but as no one wanted to be bathed in heat for the duration of the event, especially not in such close quarters with the rest of the crowd, it was a hidden blessing. There had, however, been some annoying occurrence of spittle, making people nervously finger their hats and coats, and enviously eye those who had brought along umbrellas. But naturally, most of the attention was directed towards the track below, where the race was soon to take place. The people chattered excitedly while waiting for the announcement that would have them all riveted to their seats. It wasn't often one went to a race like this. The boys selling drinks and other refreshments were having a field day.

Ran sat nervously next to her father and her best friend. She wouldn't have missed this race for anything in the world, but somehow she didn't feel quite at ease with the setting. She had always wanted to go to the races, but until now, the races had always been something distant, something her father would waste time on, something that depended only on chance, not on someone she knew.

"Ah! Here it is!" said Sonoko, pushing her hair back behind her headband while pointing at the scoreboard which had just lit up. A hush descended upon the stands, as the crowd stopped talking, straining to hear when the announcers voice would start the proceedings. They did not need to wait long.

"Hello, and welcome everybody to this once-in-a-lifetime occasion, the Detective Race!"

A cheer rang up, as applause greeted the beginning of the proceedings. It quieted down rather quickly though, as the announcer went on...

"I'm your host for the event, Aoyama Gosho. As you have all been made aware, this race is going to take the form of a rabbit chase, and as rabbit, I have the honour of presenting you my old friend, the infamous phantom thief Kaitou Kid!"

Quiet as the crowd all craned their necks, the better to see the inside of the commentator's cubicle. Indeed, there, standing beside the bespectacled man speaking in the microphone, was a figure in white. The latter gave a small wave, before leaning down towards the mike himself.

"Yes, it is I. The ever illusive Gentilhomme Cambrioleur. You can trust me to give our detectives quite a run."  
He laughed, and the cubicle filled with smoke, as in a flash the white-clothed figure was to be found on top of the scoreboard, doing handstands.

Aoyama resumed his commentary amidst a few coughs and splutters.  
"Ahem, yes, indeed. The detectives are to chase after our dear rabbit-" The crowd laughed as Kid suddenly grew himself two rather long rabbit ears on his top hat. "For the length of three full circuits of the track. It is a pure test of endurance, which shall demonstrate which detective has the best stamina, drive and ambition to ever dream of catching Kid."

Down in the starting blocks, the contestants had gathered, and were now looking towards the crowd, their bodies tense with nervousness and apprehension. Some of them noticed the Kid making jeering motions towards them, but most paid the thief little notice.

"But now, let us introduce our contestants!"

Clapping ensued, as the crowd readied itself to cheer even louder for their favourites as they were announced.

"First off, our favourite in this race, the renown teenage detective from Tokyo, Kudo Shinichi-"  
Ran felt the stands distinctly rumble as people leaped to their feet in their enthusiasm at hearing the name of their hero, _her_ hero.  
"As I was saying, Kudo Shinichi has been unable to show up for this race."

A chorus of querying tones rose from the stands, as astonishment made itself felt in front of such an announcement. Sonoko did not miss the look a shocked anguish that had flickered across Ran's face. With a concerned look of her own, she patted her friend's hand, not saying anything, as it would only be lost in the noise around them.

"In his stead-" Aoyama had to repeat himself quite a few times to make himself heard above the roar of the crowd. "In his stead, we have found another detective from the capital to take his stead... The young detective boy Edogawa Conan."

Silence descended upon the public, soon to be replaced by booing and laughter, much to Ran's horror. She had assumed Conan to be safely at the professor's! Down on the starting blocks, the smallest contestant was looking incredibly red-faced. His fellow contestant, a dark skinned chap wearing a cap, was finding this all terribly amusing.

"Next up, in position number two, we have the Kansai equivalent of Kudo, hot-headed Heiji Hattori!"

The cap-wearing contestant waved at the crowd, getting cheers and chants in response. He seemed quite pleased with the setting.

"In position three, we have the half-foreign detective, Hakuba Saguru. Current favourite in this race now that Kudo is found absent."

Hattori seemed to find something to say about this, and was gesturing wildly towards the announcer's cubicle, as the chestnut-haired contestant behind him leisurely flicked his fringe and posed. The applause from the crowd was musical, and many a flash and photographic lenses seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Kid seemed to be having a severe fit of giggles on his perch.

"Hakuba is followed by the only female contest of our contest, Koshimizu Natsuki, a promising contestant from the south of our archipelago!"  
A decisively male cry came from the audience, as the lone female contestant lowered her headphones to give a modest wave.

"And from the North, we have Tokitsu Junya. According to our polls, he's the second least favourite behind Edogawa, since news of his failure in the Lavender Mansion case. To compensate for some recent injuries, he will be allowed a head start of ten meters."  
The slouched youngster turned his glare towards the crowd. A handful of people clapped politely. He definitely was not popular.

"Finally, as an exclusive inclusion, we have the famous sleeping detective, Mouri Kogor-... Where is Mouri Kogoro?"

The contestants looked around and shrugged. Kid nearly fell off the scoreboard in a burst of hilarity. Ran felt herself go red as a tomato as she tugged at her father's sleeve. He had been too involved in arguing with his neighbour to notice that his name had been announced.  
"W-Whut Ran?"  
She pointed towards the starting blocks, and with a curse, her parent ran down the stands in an attempt to find his spot.

Half a minute later, and the race was started. On the bang of a firework, Kid had descended in front of the detectives, and with a taunt of a jewel he now held in his gloved hand, they were off.

As the announcer and crowd had announced, Hakuba seemed the hottest detective on the Kid's trail, with Heiji a close second, only impeded by his selfless concern with helping the small Edogawa keep up. Ran and Sonoko soon found themselves engrossed in the race, joining in in the oohs, aahs, and cheers of the crowd around them. Sometime at the start of the second circuit, Tokitsu tripped, and came to a halt, his face an epiphany of pain. Some commotion seemed to occur on the track, and police offers left their positions to start racing after what turned out to be Koshimizu. Noticing this, Mouri Kogoro, who had just caught up with her, stopped and used his judo skills to stop her and hand her over. The male crowd cried out in rage as Aoyama announced that Koshimizu Natsuki was now disqualified for having broken the rules and deliberately sabotaged Tokitsu's progress. By the time Kogoro resumed the race, the rest were already on their third circuit.

It was going to be a close race, Kid was tiring of the chase, and had started doing random handstands in an attempt both to rest his legs and to taunt the detectives some more. This had, however, the undesired effect of slowing him down, causing Hakuba to brush at his coattails a couple of times. It was starting to look as if the race favourite would win the game without even needing to finish the third circuit. This was when the second commotion of the race occurred, and a figure with auburn hair could be seen breaking out from the lower stands, through the security, and just in front of the contestants. The woman in question appeared to yell something that was inaudible to the crowd, as she threw a small object at Hattori. She was soon pinned to the ground by the security officers; the runners ignored her and continued their race...

But something seemed to have changed. Hattori, who until then had been carrying Edogawa every few meters or so, causing the Osakan to lose any distance he'd caught up upon Hakuba, had left Edogawa behind. The boy was positively red with exertion as he pumped his small legs, and yet...  
Suddenly, a small mist seemed to be forming around him, as he accelerated, soon catching up with Hattori, catching up with Hakuba as well. The three contestants, neck to neck, were barely a couple of feet away from Kid. The finish line was in sight, and with a final heave, they all accelerated, the shape that had been Edogawa gaining in focus as the mists seemed to evaporate.

... And then they were across the line. Hattori collapsed, a heap of exhausted teenager. Hakuba slowed down to a halt and stared. Kid vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving behind him his cloak, that a naked teenager had gripped onto as they had crossed the finish line.

Silence reigned. Aoyama stuttered into the mike as he declared, confusedly, the race over. He called for the photo finish to be shown on the board so they could declare the true winner, and then, in a voice now swelling with joy, made the final announcement.

"This is incredible people, it seems Edogawa has proven to be the true dark horse of this race. He's won. He's won! And all along he was the missing contestant Kudo Shinichi. Kudo Shinichi has won the race!"

The crowd roared. Horns were blown and Mexican waves flew up across the stands.  
Ran, sitting in her seat, was redder than she'd ever been before, as her friend laughed, patted, and congratulated her on the victory of her boyfriend.  
The naked victory. Very naked.  
Kudo Shinichi was so very lucky he now had a cape to wrap around his waist. He was dead if he expected Ran to come and congratulate him in public now.  
...as for in private, well, that was another story.

**Fin**.

Note: Look up the Wiktionary Article on "Dark Horse" if you need more information on the expression and it's meaning.


End file.
